Being Trans is No Longer a Mental Illness?!

Hey! My name’s Grayson, and welcome to my channel. So– Oh, that was a weird noise. Did you hear that? That was strange. Um, so the World Health Organization has declassified
being trans as a mental illness. This has gotten a lot of mixed reactions from
what I gather. Most of it is positive, but I thought I would
present, I guess, both uh… Both sides, so to speak, of the issue and
then give my opinion on it. So, let’s start with the backlash a little
bit, or the concerns, with this. From what I’ve heard, a lot of the concern
comes from insurance coverage. People are worried, now that it’s no longer
considered a mental health issue, that it’s not going to warrant insurance covering things
like gender-affirming surgeries or hormone replacement therapy. I can understand where they’re coming from
with that. It is a concern. We need access to those kinds of things. But the reality is that this is remaining
a diagnosis. It’s just not in the same category. So, the International Classification of Diseases,
the ICD– The new version is the ICD 11. In the previous version, the ICD 10, it was
listed under mental health. It was considered a mental health disorder. That wasn’t really a great thing because you
had maybe transphobic people who would say, “It’s not a real thing. It’s an illness, a disease.” Uh, but in the newer version, the ICD 11,
it’s listed under sexual health, and so it’s now called Gender Incongruence. And all it means is your gender identity doesn’t
match the sex you were assigned at birth. But again, some people are worried that this
is a move towards demedicalizing, and there are people in this community who think that
being trans is a medical condition, it is a mental health issue. And, kind of separate from that, the one other
concern I’ve heard is that it moves to the sexual health category. Some people are concerned that that would
reduce teen’s and youth access to things like either therapy or, um, medical treatment because
sexual– sexuality in general– is very much stigmatized for younger people. I think that concern is definitely warranted
to some degree because it’s true. Sex ed, anything to do with sex, is very taboo
for younger people, at least in this culture. So, that’s kind of the concern from some people,
is that it’s demedicalizing it. Some say it’s ignoring the fact– the mental
health aspect of being trans as well. You know, dysphoria and such. And then on the other hand, there’s also a
lot of celebration because this is a big deal, you know. To not have being trans considered a mental
illness anymore is a huge deal because it reduces a ton of stigma behind people thinking
that we are delusional or crazy for– for, you know, “thinking” we’re this way. It reduces a lot of that, and it stops people
from being able to say that because it’s no longer classified that way. And because this is an international thing,
I think that that could help more conservative countries to– to kind of move past uh…
some of their older ways of thinking. There’s also some celebration because it’s
still a diagnosis. It’s still medicalized enough to the point
where we can have access to medical care. And personally, I think this is a good thing. I don’t think that this is going to have many
negative impacts, as long as we have access to care, which I think is still gonna be the
case. There’s no signs that it won’t be. It is gonna reduce stigma. It’s giving our community some ammunition
to– to kind of fight back with as far as, “No, this is real. This is not just some delusion or some mental
illness.” Yes, dysphoria is still very much um… a
mental health issue, I think. It affects your ability to– to kind of function
day-to-day, and it’s very difficult to deal with. Do I think that’s still kind of a mental health
issue? Sure. You know, as far as… There’s a difference between dysphoria and
being trans. Um, and so dysphoria is, in my mind, still
a mental health issue because it interferes with, you know, your daily functioning. It’s distressing. It, you know, it’s persistent as well. It makes sense that this would be a mental
illness and just being trans, just having a gender identity that doesn’t match the sex
you were assigned at birth– That’s just a variation in human beings. Like it’s not– It’s not inherently an issue,
I guess. It’s the dysphoria that’s the problem. So, yeah. I think this is a good thing, and I also like
that it’s listed under sexual health, rather than mental health, because that’s saying
that our brains are not the issue here. That’s saying more that the way our bodies
developed, or anatomical sex, I guess– It’s saying that that’s more of the issue than
our brain, and I like that. And in the end, honestly, I doubt this is
going to have huge impacts um… onhow trans people are cared for, at least medically-wise,
because the DSM, which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which is put out by the
APA, the American Psychological Association– That’s still really what we use, at least
here in the US, as far as diagnosis and treatment goes. The DSM-V still has the diagnosis of Gender
Dysphoria, which is what all insurance coverage is really based off of. So, this new change might change stigma, um,
in the US, which is great. I think that’s amazing. Uh, but I don’t think, at least right now,
it’s really gonna change much as far as care. Um, I’m gonna link here the video that the
World Health Organization put out regarding this change. In it, they explain, you know, why they did
it, and what it really means, and what changes were made. So, check that out. I watched it, and it really helped to kind
of explain this because from what I’ve seen, there isn’t a ton of really clear information
right now on that sort of thing, so I figured go right to the source of where it came from. You’ll be better off. That’s this video. Thank you for watching! My name is Grayson. Have a wonderful day.

4 thoughts on “Being Trans is No Longer a Mental Illness?!”

Wpath standards version 7 in 2011 stated that transgenderism is no longer considered a mental illness by NIMH. I think in part because some people started applying for disability for being trans,LOL …so the gov knew that it was going to cost them money,lol….so they quickly shirked back on that idea.